Mark Pope isn't concerned with Kentucky's FT attempts: 'There's a heavy cost at getting to the free throw line.'

Kentucky hasn’t necessarily been bad at getting to the free-throw line this season.

In fact, the Wildcats have been about average, or maybe even a tick above, when it comes to charity stripe attempts. UK ranks 73rd in the country in free throw attempts per game (21.9) and is even better at making them (60th in the country; 16.3 makes per game). Per KenPom, Kentucky is 162nd in the nation when it comes to free throw rate (33.7 percent) — also known as the number of free throws attempted relative to a team’s number of field goal attempts. That’s right at the Division I average. Four Wildcats average at least 3.9 free-throw attempts per game, led by Otega Oweh at 4.9 attempts.

During his Thursday press conference, head coach Mark Pope was about free throw shooting and if he would like to see his guys get to the stripe more often. A handful of high-usage players on the roster haven’t been great at making their way to the free-throw line. Koby Brea, in particular, has only eight attempts all season. Jaxson Robinson has just 14 attempts across 15 games played.

But some of that is by design. “(Brea is) the number one efficient player in the country,” Pope said. “Sometimes you don’t want to mess with that too much.” On top of that, Pope’s offense isn’t one that relies on getting to the line as often as possible. He wants more passes and more outside shots. While he still wants his team to be aggressive when attacking the paint, he doesn’t want to put the outcome of games into the hands of anyone but his players.

Primarily, Pope believes there is a “cost” of being a free-throw-heavy team. That cost can come in many forms: overall efficiency, floor spacing, assist opportunities, having to rely on officials, etc.

“We have three guys that are in the top 200, 250 in the country at getting to the free throw line. So guys do that well,” Pope said. “Getting to the free throw line is an advantage but there is always a cost in getting to the free throw line. There’s a heavy cost at getting to the free throw line. There can be an efficiency cost, there can be a space cost.

“Getting to the free throw line means you have to at some point put the game into the officials’ hands, which is a very, very dangerous, inconsistent space to live in. That’s not taking a shot at the referees, it’s just you’re taking the game out of your hands and trying to put it in someone else’s hands. That’s always just a complicated issue.”

At least to this point in the season, Pope is content with how often his team is getting to the line.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.